Montana

Startup Weekend Bozeman | April 17 – 29, 2015 at Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship, Montana State University

In a first for Startup Weekend events in Montana, Bozeman’s event included access to Arduino’s, Raspberry Pi’s and 3D printing for all attendees. These devices helped teams build physical electronic products and prototypes quickly and cheaply. A special thanks to John Allwine and the STEAMlab at the Children’s Museum of Bozeman for making this possible.

“The organizing team and I were amazed at the quality of the ideas and the work ethic displayed at Startup Weekend Bozeman 2015. With the generous support of our sponsors, we watched several business ideas be vetted and products be built in just 54 hours. The economic impact of that cannot be understated. I said at the outset of the planning for this event that if one viable business was created that we’d have a win on our hands. While the number of teams that will continue is undetermined, I’ve already spoken to several that intend to do so. That’s a huge success.” – Ken Fichtler, Lead Organizer

“Hard to imagine a better team than that of Startup Weekend Bozeman. Great people, wonderful new friends, and huge asset for the Bozeman community!” – Buzz Bruggeman, Facilitator

Winning Teams / Prizes

1st place: ShareLift – A crowdsourced share riding service for carpooling to the ski slopes. shareliftapp.co

Meeting with Governor’s Office of Economic Development

5 Hours Startup Bozeman Consulting

1 Year MeBox

5 Hours Legal – Dorsey & Whitney

Each team member – $20.00 iTunes gift cards

Book – The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

$200.00 Advertising from UP Bozeman

Custom Company t-shirts – Lone Mountain Printing

“This has been such an incredible weekend for me because I came with an idea but had no idea of its potential. My team helped me realize the potential and help me grow that into something I want to proceed with and now this is something we know we can go national with.” -Sam Kern, Co-Founder & Project Lead at ShareLift

Let me start by saying thank you to the team at Startup Weekend Butte for bringing me out to Montana to share some of my experiences not only starting my own business, but also working with startups all over the country. I know how much work goes into putting events like this on, and the team, as well as Butte as a whole, has made me feel welcome at every turn. Starting a new business can be daunting, and it’s inspiring to see a group of committed individuals doing all they can to support new businesses in their community.

I feel grateful every day that I’ve been able to carve out my own corner of economic sustainability, doing work I love, especially at a time when most metrics were showing that the economy was failing so many people. While big businesses nationwide announce layoffs, cutbacks, and closings one week, and then record profits the next, Americans across the country have been left to fend for themselves in a quickly changing landscape.

And fend for ourselves we have. By starting our own businesses and hiring our neighbors. When the economy left us behind, we’ve built a new economy. An economy where sharing resources is more important than exploiting them. Where experience and a sense of place matter more than finding the cheapest price no matter what the true cost.

As this new economy has emerged, so has a shift in cultural perceptions about the economy. People are realizing that big businesses aren’t the ones creating the majority of jobs in our towns and cities, but that those jobs are being created by small businesses and startups. People are are looking to work with small locally owned businesses because they can see the evidence that doing so is an important part of the solution to improve our communities. We can’t wait around for someone else to solve our problems, and we don’t need to. The solutions are right there in front of us, so long as we have the tools we need to seize them.

Startup Weekend Butte is an opportunity to get an intensive education on the tools needed to take a hold of your future, and I hope that by sharing some of my experiences and trends from the new economy, attendees will be inspired to redefine what success is and how they can achieve it.

I’m looking forward to meeting you all soon. And if you haven’t gotten yourself registered yet, DO IT!

Thank you to everyone who attended Startup Weekend Missoula 2014. From the organizers, to the coaches and judges everyone was impressed with the energy and ideas that you brought to the event. We look forward to many more successful Startup Weekend Missoula’s to come.

Startup Weekend Missoula 2014

Congratulations 2014 Winners!

1st Place: Contractor Sherpa originally provided a platform for homeowners and contractors to communicate on projects. Renamed Construction Vault in 2015 and pivoted to a platform to easily send estimates, invoices and receive payments for construction work.

The traditional hiring process can be long and tedious and provide only a glimpse into a potential employee’s character. Recruiting new employees from Startup Weekend provides an opportunity for employers to locate quality candidates from a self-selected pool of individuals hungry for opportunity and often willing to start from the bottom. Whether you are participating in Startup Weekend as a registrant, coach, or volunteer; you will witness your potential employee’s expert skills in action as well as see how well they work in a group and how productive they are under pressure.

Fargo, North Dakota’s 2013 Startup Weekend gave startup Simply Made Apps the shot in the arm it needed to move to the next level and they wound up hiring two of their Startup Weekend team members into the company. Brooke Allen, a securities industry proprietary trader and hedge fund manager, took his top four candidates for assistant to Startup Weekend to see how they performed under pressure, then hired the best one. Allen advises to, “go beyond thinking of Startup Weekend as a place to launch a project but also a great place to troll for employees and jobs.” Locally, GCS has found an intern as a result of Startup Weekend Missoula 2013. GCS President and Founder, Alex Philp said, “GCS is honored to be a sponsor of Startup Weekend. Based upon our experience with Startup Weekend last year we see this as a great way of identifying Missoula’s best and brightest, supporting the launch of other high tech businesses, and helping to grow Missoula’s big data community.”

By engaging with coaches and teams of varying talents and backgrounds you can compare and calculate the benefits of various potential employees all weekend. Even though many of the participants have a goal of launching their own startup, other attendees go to Startup Weekend for the networking opportunities and to help out their team wherever needed. Whether you are in the market for a talented employee or your future co-founder, you are sure to find an abundance of prospects at Startup Weekend that, in an economy that is saturated with budding startups, have the talent and ambition that will make your company the 1 in 4 to succeed.

Guest Post by

Alex Philp

Alex Philp, Ph.D. is the founder of various advanced technology companies in Missoula, Montana, including GCS, Adelos and, most recently, TerraEchos. Currently serving as the Founder and President of GCS, Alex launched GCS as a spinout from NASA funded research and development in advanced geospatial information technology at The University of Montana. Dr. Philp received his Masters and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Montana, combining interests in history, geography, ecology, and geospatial IT into comprehensive examinations of historical landscapes and how and why they change over time. Prior to attending the University of Montana where Alex currently serves as a Faculty Affiliate in the Dept. of Geography and the School of Business, he worked for the Lewis and Clark National Forest and as a Park Ranger in Glacier National Park. Alex’s undergraduate degrees were in Philosophy and History from Seattle University, graduating as a life long member of the National Jesuit Honor Society with a public commitment to scholarship, loyalty, and service. In addition to his service work in recognizing and rewarding excellence in student scholarship, Alex serves as a board member at Providence Western Montana Health Care System, The University of Montana School of Business Administration Advisory Board, and as an IBM Champion, evangelizing, lecturing, and speaking about advanced technology and interdisciplinary topics. Alex and his family reside in Missoula, Montana.

From the healthy snacks and foods we make, to our commitment to social entrepreneurship with impact, our focus is on making the world a little kinder, one act at a time. Our message of holistic kindness has been the foundation of KIND since day one, and continues each time we create a new snack or introduce a new social initiative. One simple, foundational belief underpins it all: There’s more to business than just profit.

It’s why we started the KIND Movement, why we believe the easier we make it for our community to surprise others with unexpected acts of kindness, the kinder our world will become. Big act or small, we encourage it – from writing a letter to someone who inspired you to planting thousands of trees to simply taking the time to say “thank you.”

Kind just launched a program that we are proud to share with you. Each month we are funding an idea that will help inspire kindness. This is open-submission so anyone can submit – winners are selected monthly by a public voting system.

Check out our site here and watch the video: kindsnacks.com You can submit an idea today.

What’s happening and who’s it for?

Missoula is set to host its second Startup Weekend from March 7 through the 9, 2014. Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups! Local CEOs, founders, startup veterans, attorneys, publishers, professors, and economic developers with entrepreneurship, investing, marketing, and technology expertise will be on hand to coach teams.

Alongside members from the local tech and entrepreneur communities, Startup Weekend Missoula will welcome a new kind of participant to the local event: students from Montana University System’s new Blackstone LaunchPad program. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation knows that entrepreneurship is the single most effective way to spur economic growth and job creation. Through the Blackstone LaunchPad, students will have access to an expanded universe of resources and years of institutional knowledge, helping them launch ventures that can take root locally and strengthen Montana’s economy.

“The opportunity to assemble your own startup dream team of peers to work on a common idea for a weekend was too good to pass up. The experience reinforced why I love working with startups,” says Colin Stoner who attended Startup Weekend Missoula 2013.

Said Startup Weekend Missoula coach Elke Govertsen of last years event, “The energy and momentum were palpable. To see that kind of collaborative potential made me excited for the future of Missoula and the entrepreneur startup ecosystem we are fostering.”

How is it done?

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts. Over 36% of Startup Weekend startups are still going strong after 3 months. Roughly 80% of participants plan on continuing working with their team or startup after the weekend. (Statistics from http://startupweekend.org/about/)

When and where is it?

The detailed Startup Weekend Missoula 2014 Schedule can be found online at http://missoula.startupweekend.org/. The general hours of the event are Friday, March 7, 2014 from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.; Saturday, March 8, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday, March 9, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It will be held in downtown Missoula at the Elks Lodge, 112 N. Pattee St.

How can I sign up?

Interested parties can click on the orange “Register” link at the main website to sign up: http://missoula.startupweekend.org/ Students tickets are offered at a discounted price and are limited. Registration includes pizza and caffeine Friday night as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner catered by Bravo! Catering and Market on Front. Attendees will also receive a custom team t-shirt and exclusive Startup Weekend perks.

ABOUT STARTUP WEEKEND:Startup Weekend is a program of UP Global along with NEXT, StartupDigest and Startup America. UP Global is a non-profit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship, grassroots leadership, and strong communities. UP Global is supported by Google for Entrepreneurs, Coca-Cola, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the Case Foundation.